Health & Fitness
Illinois To 'Ramp Down' COVID-19 Vaccine Supply As Demand Lowers
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that the state will ask for fewer vaccine doses from the federal government due to a backlog of supply.
ILLINOIS — The state will reduce its order of COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government as vaccination demand dwindles.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a news conference Monday that all Illinois residents who were motivated to get vaccinated have received a dose. The issue now remains in bringing vaccines to areas where inoculation rates are lowest.
Pritzker said Illinois will have the option to increase vaccine supply later if needed.
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"We've got quite a number of vaccinations that are available in the state already that are still unused, and so we want to make sure we're working through the inventory that we've got," Pritzker said.
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Vaccine doses are viable for up to 30 days if stored properly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pritzker said the state will likely ask for about "10 to 20 percent less" in doses.
"We had, you know, an increase of supply and dropping demand that we would get to a point where we had more supply than demand," Pritzker said. "So we've been planning for this for some time now."
A total of 9,978,915 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. On Monday, 70,426 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
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